Denounce Ports IB for continuing with the buoy fields despite the suspension of the tender

PalmaThe association of sailors ADN Mediterrani has filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office against several officials of Ports de les Illes Balears (Ports IB) for actions related to the implementation of new ecological buoy fields while the corresponding tender remains suspended.

As the entity reported in a statement, the complaint comes after months of confrontation between the Administration and the main representative organizations of the Balearic sailors, who have repeatedly challenged a tender valued at more than 5.8 million euros.

ADN Mediterrani maintains that the administrative procedure has continued to advance despite being suspended by resolution of the Central Administrative Court of Public Procurement Appeals. As an example, the association points out that on June 5, a minor contract was formalized for the assembly of the mooring fields in the bay of Fornells and the island of en Colom, facilities included within the currently paralyzed tender. The entity considers that this action could constitute an artificial fragmentation of contracts with the aim of evading ordinary public procurement procedures. Likewise, it questions the legality of the recent approval of an extraordinary extension of over 314,000 euros intended to maintain the operation of eight buoy fields.

In view of this situation, ADN Mediterrani has asked the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office to investigate the facts and determine the possible responsibilities arising from the reported actions. In parallel, it has called for the suspension of the execution of the contracts in question until the compliance with current regulations is clarified. The association, the only one represented on the Government's Nautical Table on behalf of the sailors, considers that these decisions are part of a strategy to continue deploying a coastal management model that, it assures, generates growing opposition within the nautical sector.

Debate on the protection of posidonia

The president of ADN Mediterrani, Lorenzo Pons, has described the actions of Ports IB as a "flight forward" motivated by the desire to "implement the buoy fields at all costs".

Pons has remarked that the protection of posidonia is a shared objective of the entire sector, but has warned that this aim cannot serve, in his opinion, to restrict the historical rights of sailors nor to violate the legal guarantees that govern public procurement. The entity recalls that for years it has denounced the progressive reduction of free anchoring spaces on sand, the increase in costs associated with recreational navigation, and the difficulties in accessing moorings in the Archipelago's ports.

In this regard, it considers that the expansion of paid buoy fields limits citizens' access to the sea and particularly harms social and family boating. "Traditional boating is going through one of the most difficult moments in its history in the Balearic Islands. Every year it is more expensive to navigate, more difficult to find a mooring, and more complicated to exercise rights that for decades have been part of our maritime culture," Pons stated.